Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of I Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland and this is Fitness Disrupted. Fit tip.
What is carb cycling? This maybe another one of those
(00:21):
terms you have heard. Maybe you have friends who tell you, Hey,
I'm carved cycling. You're going, what the heck is that?
And real simply it is yet another example of a
term that is making something that's really simple sound complex
(00:44):
and it's not. And let me just back up a
little bit. When I first started doing endurance races, running marathons,
doing triathlon, especially the longer distance iron Man distance, even
half iron Man distance, they used to talk about carving up.
You've probably heard of that more than you've heard carbs cycling.
So carbo loading is something that people still do for
(01:05):
endurance races because carbohydrates are our bodies preferred energy source
and you're trying to fill up the tank. You're trying
to fill up the tank as much as you can,
and that is going to help performance in endurance races.
But years ago, they used to deplete your carbs. So
what you would do was a couple of days out
from the race. There are different techniques, but generally within
(01:28):
a week and it was generally a few days out
from the race you would deplete your carbs, so you
would cycle your carb intake. You would actually just cut
out as many as you could and you would train
really hard, and it was brutal and it was miserable.
Because your body's preferred energy stores or carbohydrates, you basically
are training on no fuel. And the theory was that
(01:49):
you could super compensate. So in other words, you would
deplete your carbs for a couple of days pre race,
then when you carbo loaded, you would actually be able
to store more carbohydrate than if you had not depleted
your carbs and tormented yourself for several days. What they
found was over time didn't really work, so in other words,
you did not have to torture yourself. You could actually
(02:10):
load just as well without torturing yourself with those low
to no carb days and trying to exercise through it.
So that was great news. You just had to take
in more carbohydrate. So that was a form of carbs cycling.
But then, of course you know it has to be
(02:31):
made to sound even cooler for dieting and body composition
and stuff like that. So what is carb cycling, Well,
carb cycling is just what I described. It involves basically
having hard carb days low carb days, and some people,
not me, do no carb days. And I would also
(02:52):
argue that many of the people who tell you there
are on no carb days, they really don't know what
carbs are. And if you try to go no carb,
you will know it because it is miserable. I did
it back when my body built really really hard. So
it's a dietary approach, right, it's alternating your intake of
carbs either on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, whatever you're
looking at. And yes, it's used by generally body builders
(03:17):
people like that who are trying to reduce fat, gain muscle.
And then it's also something utilized by endurance athletes and
it's yes, you're hearing it now more and more because
they're trying to sell products, trying to sell books. And
I did a show on weight, water and weighing yourself
(03:38):
because carbohydrates attract water. So it's phenomenal for weight loss
because and and just weight loss on the scale because
carbohydrates attract water molecules. When you reduce your carbohydrates, you
reduce your water in your body, and you're gonna see
that on the scale. It's not fat loss, it's what
a loss. Okay, So a carb cycling strategy might be
(04:00):
as many different ways to do it. You might have
two high carb days, to moderate card days, and three
low carb days. Are you getting the gist here? Though?
It's too complicated people, I don't count my carbs, I
don't count my macros. The goal of your eating program
is to make it as easy as possible to sell
(04:24):
diet books and to make people sound smart. They make
the most basic stuff when it comes to eating and
exercise more complicated. It's one of those fancy terms that
sells products and books and creates quote unquote nutrition experts gurus. Okay,
here's here's the takeaway. On days you are going to
(04:46):
be more active, you need more fuel. You're going to
eat some more. Right. On the days you're exercising more,
you need to take in more. On the days you're
exercising less, moving less, you need less fuel. And if
you to lose weight, you need to reduce your calories
and part of those will be carbohydrate and fat most likely.
(05:10):
So carb cycling it's fuel, people, And this is something
that people like me and those of you who are
figuring it out slowly, just do subconsciously. I don't cycle
my car, I don't tomorrow, I'm gonna take in lets. No,
But if I'm going on a long trip and I'm
not gonna be active and I'm sitting on a plane
(05:31):
for fourteen hours or sitting in a car for a
long time, I don't need as many calories, so I'm
probably gonna take in a little less. But if I'm
going out for a two three hour fun bike ride
with the family or by myself, whatever, I'm gonna be
more active. I'm gonna eat a bigger breakfast. That's carb
cycling people taking in more fuel when you need more fuel,
(05:53):
And on days that you're not going to be doing
as much, you take in less. And this is something
that when you start to figure out the foods that
work for you, you will do subconsciously. You will just know,
you will feel it in your body. Your your body
will tell you what it needs, but it won't be
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something you are constantly aware of, because that is what
we want to get away from as far as I'm concerned.
We want to eat and enjoy it and not be uh,
you know, connected to the numbers. When we start I
get it. You gott to weigh yourself, you gotta measure,
but the goal is to get away from that. So
cycling your carbs is fuel, and if you want to
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do it, be my guest. But again, know that the
days you don't take in a lot of carbs, you're
gonna see it on the scale because it's water weight lost.
You're gonna feel in your body because you're not gonna
have the energy you need. You're gonna feel in your
brain because your brain runs on that glucose from carbs.
And sure, you can train your body not to do that.
My philosophy is, why would you want to your choice?
(07:00):
So carb cycling is basically taking in more carbs, taking
in less carbs for diet, for endurance races, or to
lose weight. But it's a complicated term that is really
really simple. Okay. And finally, again you need to figure
out what works for you, the foods that you like
(07:21):
that are healthy. There are so many out there. In
the days where you need more energy, you're take in
a little bit more. All right, there you go. Carb
cycling sounds really cool, right, sounds like I want to
do that, And give me a formula and tell me numbers.
First of all, who's counting what you go to a restaurant,
(07:41):
you take in a like you never know exactly what
you're taking to eat an apple. You gotta figure out
how many come on. You don't want to be attached
to those numbers, at least I don't. Thank you for listening.
I love these shorter shows, although I want to go
much longer with them. But you get it. It's fuel,
it's fueling your body. I am Tom Holland please subscribe
(08:03):
to the podcast and rate the podcast if you have
not already Tom h Fit is my Twitter and Instagram.
You can reach out to me there and Fitness Disrupted
dot com. You can reach out to me and find
out more about the show and everything else right there
as well. I do have a new book out Micro
Workout Plan, if you're interested in my most recent and
thank you for listening. I love what I do. I
(08:24):
want to make sense of the nonsense for you. I
want you to be as healthy as possible and live
your best like. That is all I'm selling people. And
remember there are three things we control. How much we move,
what we put into our mouths, and our attitudes. That
is awesome. I'm Tom Holland. This is Fitness Disrupted, believing yourself.
(08:50):
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